I’m a Champion of Government – a Limited Government
“Are you one of those libertarians who think no government at all would be heaven on earth?”
No, I’m not. On the contrary, I’m a champion of government – but an extremely limited government.
Here’s my government 1, 2, 3:
A government’s one legitimate function is to protect our individual rights from two potential sources of rights violations, foreign enemies and our fellow men at home, using three institutions: the military, the police and the courts.
That’s it. No more, no less.
How do you finance those institutions if you want to separate state and the economy? With voluntary contributions. Just like a truly free nation never has a problem raising volunteers for its defense, no nation limiting its government to the above functions will have a problem funding the necessary institutions. On the contrary, individuals will most likely compete for the honor of contributing. With separation, the government slice of the economy would be miniscule. If I’d have to venture a number, I’d say in the low single digits. After all, the first time in our nation’s history it went over 5% was during the Civil War. And it promptly went back and stayed below until the Progressives had us join World War I.
Obviously, arrangements have to be made that contributions come with no strings attached, but that’s a minor problem. And our government institutions may have to become a little more skilled in marketing, again not a big issue. After all, who wouldn’t want to have his name on a drone in exchange for contributing to its funding? And once the drone had done its job get a bumper sticker saying “My drone killed 50 bad guys”. Awesome!